'I Was the Victim,' Says Loud Music Trial Shooter in Jailhouse Phone Call

Michael Dunn smiles at his parents during a break in his trial in Jacksonville, Fla. Feb. 12, 2014.

Bob Mack/The Florida Times-Union/AP Photo

Prosecutors released audio today of several jailhouse calls placed by
Michael Dunn -- the man at the center of another controversial Florida
trial -- shedding new light on his mindset in the initial days after he
fatally shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis over a confrontation over loud
music.

“I’m the [expletive deleted] victim here. I was the one who was
victimized,” says Dunn, 47, in one of the calls in which he appeared to
chuckle while speaking about his predicament. “I’m the victor but I was
the victim too.”

In a separate call with his fiancé Rhonda Rouer, Dunn makes the
connection between his situation and scenarios where police officers
doubt rape victims.

“I was the one that was being preyed upon and I fought back. It’s not
quite the same but it made me think of like the old TV shows and movies
where like how the police used to think when a chick got raped going,
'Oh, it’s her fault because of the way she dressed.' I'm like, 'So it’s
my fault (laughing) because I asked them to turn their music down. I got
attacked and I fought back because I didn’t want to be a victim and now
I'm in trouble. I refused to be a victim and now I'm incarcerated.”

Prosecutors accused Dunn of killing Davis in a convenience store parking
lot after they got into an argument over loud music. Jurors found Dunn
guilty on four of five charges for shooting at Davis’ friends, who were
also in the car, as well as firing a gun into a car in the 2012
incident. However, jurors could not agree on the first-degree murder
charge for shooting Davis, prompting a mistrial on that count.

The recordings mirror statements Dunn made in trial in which he stated
that he believed his life was in danger, thus leaving him little choice
but to shoot. The case has once again rekindled anger in some circles
about self-defense laws, in particular “stand your ground,” despite it
never being invoked during the trial.

Dunn testified that after he asked Davis to turn down the music blaring
from the teen's car, a confrontation ensued and that Davis approached
the middle-aged software developer. Dunn said he believed Davis had a
weapon, leaving him little choice but to defend himself. However, a gun
was never recovered at the scene.

In one of the nine calls released today, Dunn reads a letter that he
planned on sending to the judge presiding over his case in an effort to
make bail. Repeatedly both he and his fiancé say that the legal system
is stacked against them, however Dunn says the law is on his side.

“I'm super confident if they take this to trial it will be a short deliberation,” said Dunn.

Dunn who placed the calls while in isolation also made repeated efforts
to distance himself from fellow inmates, “Being in a room by myself
really sucks, but better than being in a room with them animals.”

He will spend at least 60 years behind bars for the attempted murder
charges. Prosecutors have indicated that they plan to retry Dunn on the
first-degree murder charge.

Dunn who placed the calls while in isolation also made repeated efforts to distance himself from fellow inmates, “Being in a room by myself really sucks, but better than being in a room with them animals.”........

White men have been killing both Black men and women since we were
dragged aboard the first ship to set sail from West Africa to South
Carolina. And, for the most part, they've done it with impunity. This is
what we all know but somewhere during the last 30 years or so seem to
have tried to forget.

I think the generation of Black folks who came of age just after the
Civil Rights Movement have done us a gross disservice. They were so busy
trying to assimilate. Busy trying to climb the corporate ladder. Busy
trying to live next door to White folks. Busy trying to prove their
worth. So busy in fact that they forgot to fight the system rather than
to be apart of the one that already existed.

The result is that no real systematic changes have been made to the
power structures that nourish and keep the doctrine of White Supremacy
alive and well.

So, here we are well into the new millennium and it in many ways
looks like the a rerun of the previous 100 years. Segregation is in full
effect both in housing and in education. Black folks are still the
victims of economic terrorism at the hands of both government and the
private sector. And, White men continue to kill Black folks with
impunity. If not them then their agents in the form of police.

Structural changes must be made. Otherwise our children's children
will be having these same conversations. And I fear that the only way
for those changes to take place is for us to give as good as we've
gotten. The NRA says own guns. We should own guns. And when a White man
confronts us, we take that gun and pull the trigger.

Sure some will be sacrificed into the justice system. But, after a
point White folks will get tired of getting shot down like dogs in the
street and will demand reform. They will demand laws be changes to stop
the carnage. They will choose life.

There will never be a peaceful solution. No one has ever removed
their boot from a neck because they were politely asked. The longer we
keep looking for a bloodless solution, the longer we will be having this
conversation.

I wish Malcolm X hadn't been assassinated. We need him right now. Why don't we have any leaders like that? Most black men on tv openly say racist things about other blacks and couldn't care less about stuff like this.

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